Adlertag

Adlertag ("Eagle Day") was the first day of Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"), an operation by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe (air force) intended to destroy the British Royal Air Force (RAF). The operation came during the Battle of Britain after Britain rejected all overtures for a negotiated peace with Germany. However, Adlertag and subsequent operations failed to destroy the RAF or gain local air superiority.

On 16 July 1940 Hitler gave the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) Directive No. 16 ordering provisional preparations for the invasion of Britain. This operation was codenamed Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe). Before this could be carried out, air superiority or air supremacy was required. The Luftwaffe was to destroy the RAF in order to prevent it from attacking the invasion fleet or providing protection for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, which might attempt to prevent a landing by sea. On 1 August Hitler gave the Luftwaffes commander-in-chief, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe Directive No. 17 ("for the conduct of air and sea warfare against England") to launch the air assault.